


Trend Setting

by Arsenic



Category: Captive Prince - C. S. Pacat
Genre: Fashion & Couture, Long Live Feedback Comment Project, M/M, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-22
Updated: 2020-05-22
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:08:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,035
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24326296
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arsenic/pseuds/Arsenic
Summary: Ancel knows Berenger likes him for who he is, of course.  But it never hurts to be useful, as well.
Relationships: Ancel/Berenger (Captive Prince)
Comments: 24
Kudos: 95





	Trend Setting

**Author's Note:**

> Originally published in Elegance, a CaPri zine for charity.
> 
> Thank you to Teeelsie for the beta, all remaining mistakes are my own.

If asked, Ancel would tell anyone that Berenger would keep his contract, even should Ancel stop bathing, and take to living in the forest like a wood-sprite. If asked.

Privately, it was possible he, at times, was a bit concerned about keeping Berenger’s interest. 

The problem was, for all that Berenger was boring on the surface, so much as mildly graze said surface, and he was brilliant. Laurent had put him in charge of the treasury, and within months Berenger had made inroads with his counterpart in Akielos, the two of them already mapping out a plan to join the countries’ finances, and brainstorming tactics for expansion of trade with the Vaskian clans.

He had, with the help of a few of the local schoolteachers, entirely rehauled the educational structure within his holdings, creating systems of apprenticeships and vocational paths for children who were likely to benefit, and frontloading curricula on practical matters such as agriculture, animal husbandry, and finances. If a student showed a particular aptitude for governmental affairs, Berenger himself often helped tutor them when not at court.

Berenger’s father had died before he’d come into majority—Ancel sometimes thought it was this that had made him take a second look at Laurent, when there had not seemed to be much substance there. He’d spent every moment since taking over the reins overhauling the tax system to make it more egalitarian and investing in bringing physicians and other necessities into the nearest township.

All told, Berenger very well could have been a king himself, had he been interested. For a long time, Ancel had thought power wasn’t of interest to him at all, but it wasn’t that. It was that Berenger was attracted to power because of what it allowed him to do for others, rather than what it did for him.

Ancel didn’t doubt for a second that he was the best pet in their circle. And their circle being Laurent’s court, that made him the best, period. He did, though, doubt that made him deserving of Berenger. It was simply that, well. Pleasing someone who wanted to be seen to was easy, the easiest thing in the world, really. Pleasing someone who mostly just wanted others to be happy?

It was a good thing Ancel was always up for a challenge when it came to Berenger.

* * *

The joining of Vere and Akielos was making Berenger’s district wealthy in ways it had never been before. Known largely for the production of flaxseed oil and linen, his people had always been able to market their goods, but linen was prized along the Akielon coast for its cooling properties year-round, whereas it served Vere best in summer, or as a durable cloth for table settings and such. Predictably, the linen guilds had taken to making chitons for the fledgling linen clothing market that had come with the new freedom to cross borders for customers. 

It had been some time since Ancel had gotten creative with clothing, really. Not since it had been necessary to do so if he was going to maximize use of what outfits he had, and make his closet seem considerably more versatile than it had been, in truth.

He wasn’t foolish enough to have lost the skill.

He purchased raw lengths of linen from two of the more respected producers in the area. Both attempted to get him to take the goods for free, no doubt simply to get their merchandise in front of Berenger. Ancel would bury himself in gifts from the rich, sure. He wasn’t taking food from the mouths of working men and women. 

Ancel could visualize what he wanted, and if it was a matter of a few nips and tucks, sewing a seam here and there, he was fine. Creating an entire pattern and working it through to the end was something else entirely. Once he’d sketched precisely what he wished for, he enlisted the help of the local tailor he’d been using for years. Thankfully Bastien was engaged by the project, and had a fondness for Ancel.

By the time he packed for summer at the new court in Delfeur, Ancel had just managed to finish everything he needed. The night before they headed out, Berenger asked, “Ready to be shown off, mon coeur?”

Ancel laughed softly. “Always.”

Somehow, he’d never meant it more.

* * *

As always, when they got to court, Berenger went to let the two kings know of their arrival. Ancel unpacked their household, at least the part he was unwilling to leave to the palace servants.

By the time Berenger returned, Ancel was precisely where he had planned to be: on the balcony off their rooms, sipping a glass of wine. Berenger stopped at the Veretian doors and asked, “Ah. What…what are you wearing?”

Ancel looked over his shoulder. “Like it?”

For his first outfit, he’d chosen one of the blue-wash linens which he’d turned into a one-piece, with a smocked bodice that came just over his pectorals and tied around his neck in a halter tie, with three parallel bands across the otherwise backless back. It attached to a flowy skirt with some Veretian flourishes, but a raw hem Ancel knew would interest fans of Akielon fashion. He’d pulled his hair into a messy bun, a few stray locks falling down the side of his face, and stayed barefoot.

“Is that…linen? From home?”

Berenger had come to stand next to Ancel, skimming a hand over the naked skin of his lower back, just above the skirt. Ancel leaned into the touch. “Mm.”

Making a small sound, Berenger kissed his shoulder. “Everyone will need to have one by tomorrow.”

“Of course, which is why I’ll be upping my game tomorrow.”

Berenger pulled back to look Ancel in the face. “How many linen sensations did you make yourself, dear?”

Ancel smiled and took a sip of wine. “Enough that you’d best start thinking about how the region can increase growth and production.”

Quietly, Berenger said, “We need to go show you off. Now.”

Ancel raised an eyebrow. “Oh?”

Berenger offered his arm and said with heat, “Linen wrinkles rather easily.”

Ancel laughed. “That had best be a promise, my Lord.”

**Author's Note:**

> This story is part of the LLF Comment Project, which was created to improve communication between readers and authors. This author invites and appreciates feedback (but in no way expects or feels entitled to it!!) including:
> 
> Short comments  
> Long comments  
> Questions  
> “<3” or simply "kudos" as extra kudos -- caveat, I do not see actual kudos  
> Reader-reader interaction
> 
> LLF Comment Builder
> 
> Please note that criticism, constructive or otherwise, is not listed as a type of fb that is welcome, because it is not. I write and share these stories for free and as a hobby. You are entitled to not like this story, but if you feel the need to tell me that, or why, it will be immediately deleted and forgotten.  
> 
> 
> Author Responses: This author replies to comments. If you don’t want a reply, for any reason whatsoever, you feel shy, you have anxiety, just because, feel free to sign your comment with “whisper” and I will appreciate the comment and respect your wish that I not respond.
> 
> I can be found on tumblr @arsenicjade.


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